Method of rolling cutlery pieces

ABSTRACT

A method of making cutlery articles, especially spoons, forks, and cake servers, of semi-finished sheet metal material, according to which form a web of sheet metal there is punched out a plurality of relatively narrow cutouts extending transversely to the longitudinal direction of said web and one behind the other in the longitudinal direction of the web while each of said cutouts is closed at least at one end thereof with said closed end in spaced relationship to the adjacent side edge of said web, whereupon the thus prepared sheet metal web is rolled so as to widen the width of said cutouts, and cutlery blanks in conformity with the article to be made are punched out of said web.

United States Patent [1 1 Berg et a1.

1451 Dec. 4,1973

[ METHOD OF ROLLING CUTLERY PIECES [75] Inventors: Walter Berg, Daaden;Gottfried Hanel; Heinz Elster, both of Dusseldorf, all of Germany [73]Assignee: Walzmaschinenfabrik August Schmitz GmbI-l, Dusseldorf-Rath,

Germany [22] Filed: May 11, I971 [21] Appl. No.: 142,286

- [52] US. Cl 72/203, 72/339, 72/365, 7 113/116 v [51] Int. Cl B21111/00 [58] Field of Search 72/203, 339, 338, 72/365; 76/104 R; 113/116 V,116 Y, 116 BB; 29/4709 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS3,468,195 9/1969 La 76/104 R 3,262,196 7/1966 Davis 29/4709 2,968,9741/1961 Everett 72/339 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 516,874 1/1931Germany 614,319 2/1961 Canada 113/116 BB Primary Examiner-Charles W.Lanham Assistant ExaminerRobert M. Rogers Att0rneyWalter Becker [57]ABSTRACT A method of making cutlery articles, especially spoons, forks,and cake servers, of semi-finished sheet metal material, according towhich form a web of sheet metalthere is punched out a plurality ofrelatively narrow cutouts extending transversely to the longitudinaldirection of said web and one behind the other in the longitudinaldirection of the web while' each ofsaid cutouts is closed at least atone end thereof with said closed end in spaced relationship to theadjacent side edge of said web, whereupon the thus prepared sheet metalweb is rolled so as to widen the width of said cutouts, and cutleryblanks in conformity with the article to be made are punched out of saidweb. Y

2 Claims, 13 Drawing Figures PATENTEB 41975 3,776,012

SHEEI 1 BF 2 Fig.2 Fig.2(1 Fig. 3

1 METHOD OF ROLLING CUTLERY PIECES to punch out the individual preforms,to trim the same. and finally manually to guidethem through a rolling"mechanism in order to preroll the same on both sides; In such aninstance, primarily slow moving=duo rolling mills are employed. Thefinish rolling iseffected by a plurality of passeson additional rollingmills while the pieces are likewise guided manually.

With the above described semi-manualmethods, it is particularlydisadvantageous that the rollers during each entering operation willslip briefly on the sheet metal which fact may result in local coldwelding' between roller surface andwork piece surface. The surface(rolling grooves) created in this manner haveto be eliminated, forinstance, by additional grinding and po'lishing. Undesired punchinglosses may occur due to the fact that when the frame of-the rolling millsprings due to the shockinherent to theentering ofthe work piece, markswill be produced at the marginal areas of the preform or the blank.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide animproved manufacturing process for making cutlery pieces, suchas spoons,forks, cake servers, and the like, from semi-finished sheetmetalmaterial, while assuring a final product whichwill have a uniformquality throughout.

This object and other objects andadvantages of the invention will appearmore clearly from the following. specification in connection with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1, 2, 2a and 3 respectively illustrate individual preforms atdifferent phases of the manufacturing process.

FIGS. 4 and 4a respectively illustrate in top view and end view amulti-preform in raw or unfinished condiing a plurality of preforms.

The method of making cutlery pieces from semifinished sheet metalmaterial according to the present invention is characterized primarilyin that the bands or webs of sheet metal from which the cutlery blanksare to be produced extend in considerable length in the rollingdirection and are designed asprepunched multipreforms permitting acontinuous manufacturing process.

The preform may have a unilateral or a bilateral shape. One of theconditions of the method according to the present invention-consists inthat the multipreform is provided with transversely extending punchedout portions located between metal sheet .bars

which will form, for instance, the spoon handles. The cutlery blanks maybe punched out unilaterally or bilaterally from the multi-preform.

According to a particularly favorable method, two or more multi-preformsfor arolling on a plurality of sides may be arranged adjacent to eachother and, more specifically, in a direction transverse to the rollingdirection. It is, of course, understood. that the maximum width of themetal sheet is determined by the widthof the roller body. Moreover, thesheet may, in conformity with the width of theindividualmulti-preformsbe subdivided into strips for processingincustomary separating devices;

An important contribution to economizing the.

' other. In order to avoid any such disorders caused'iin this way, inconformity with the present invention, a smooth band. is wound uptogether with the forms in, order to separate the preform layers fromeachother.

For carrying. out the method accordingtothepresent invention, rollingmills of the duo, quarto or multi roller type for one-way, reversing andtandem operation of standard type may be employed and their rollers maybe profiled in conformity with the cross sections of the respectivemulti-preforms.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, the conventional. manufactureof individual cutlery piecesstarts withthe punching out andthe deburringof a preform 1 which after multi pass rollingthrough a secondintermediate stage la eventually results in a punched out cutlery piece1b. Inorder to obtaina marketable product, the flat scoppin g, portion1c has to be hollow pressed and the handle 1d has to be bent.

According to a method according to the present invention, illustrated inFIGS. 4 and. 4a for a spoon, a combshaped multipreform preform 2 is by azone rolling on the left-hand side transformed into anintermediateform211 while in view of the linear expansion of the lateral rollingstripthe non-rolled handle portions 3, 3a are automatically moved apart,which means that the punched out slots 4 will increase in width so thatthey will bespaced from each other by distance 4a. The punching out ofthe still flat preform of the spoon is effected along the dash lines ofFIG. 5.

A further step in the direction of economizing the manufacture ofcutlery pieces in conformity with the present invention is theemployment of a bilateral or double preform 5, 5a as shown'in FIGS. 6,6a and shown in FIGS. 7, 7a in dash. lines. The punched out areas 6, 6awhich in this instance are closed, will confine corresponding webs 7, 7awhich latter form the spoon handles. By separating the doublepreformalong a plane of symmetry extending in the rolling direction,

' two rows of sets of spoons are formed which can then be furthermachined as has been describedin connection with the strips according toFIGS. 4 and 5.

It is, of course, possible to arrange a plurality of double preforms asshown in FIGS. 6 and 7 and, more specifically, transverse to the rollingdirection so that preforms 8 are obtained in conformity with FIG. 8. Fordividing the preforms into double strips, any known standard separatingor cutting methods may be employed.

A multi-preform will over its entire rolling length correspond not onlyto precise measurements but it will also assure with a minimum of wastesuch highly satisfactory surface condition that the usually necessarypost-treatment, such as annealing, refining, and the like, will not benecessary. By a corresponding punching out of the semifmished plateprior to the start of the rolling operation, the material has thepossibility of properly flowing without a change in the cross section ofthe cutlery piece handle during the rolling operation. The handles willmerely increase their distances from each other in conformity with thedegree of rolling so that, depending on the reduction, it is alsopossible to influence the surface of the cutlery piece. Generally, highalloyed steel as well as precious metals may be employed for makingcutlery pieces of the type involved.

The continuous rolling of cutlery pieces will on the rolling millrequire suitable guiding means in order to keep and hold themulti-preforms properly aligned with regard to the roller centerregardless of whether unilateral, bilateral or multilateral designs ofthe preforms are involved. The rolling profile may be provided on bothor one roller only, or with a corresponding width of the roller body,also a plurality of profiles may be provided on the rollers.

It is, of course, to be understood that the present invention is, by nomeans, limited to the particular method set forth above but alsocomprises any modifications within the scope of the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. A method of making multi-preforms for the production of cutleryarticles, especially spoons, forks, and cake servers, of semi-finished,sheet metal material, which includes the steps of: partially dividingthe metal web transversely to the longitudinal direction by punching cutout areas of the same width, leaving two longitudinal side edge areas ofsaid web undivided, the middle divided area being dimensioned as to formpairs of handle blank portions of said articles to be produced betweensuccessive cut out areas,-rolling said undivided edge areas to a reducedthickness so as to widen the spacing between said handle blank portions,each pair of articles being formed from each pair of handle blankportions and opposite portions of said side edge areas, the articleportions formed from said side edge areas being divided along linesthrough said cut out areas.

2. A method according to claim 1 with a web of sheet I material having acontinuous integral strip extending in the longitudinal direction ofsaid web'and located on each side of said slots, which includes the stepof dividing each of the transverse sections remaining between eachsucessive cut out areas along the length of said sections intosubstantially two halves to respectively form a pair of handles for eachtwo spoons to be made, and respectively punching out from both stripsthe scooping portions of the spoons respectively pertaining to each pairof handles.

1. A method of making multi-preforms for the production of cutleryarticles, especially spoons, forks, and cake servers, of semi-finishedsheet metal material, which includes the steps of: partially dividingthe metal web transversely to the longitudinal direction by punching cutout areas of the same width, leaving two longitudinal side edge areas ofsaid web undivided, the middle divided area being dimensioned as to formpairs of handle blank portions of said articles to be produced betweensuccessive cut out areas, rolling said undivided edge areas to a reducedthickness so as to widen the spacing between said handle blank portions,each pair of articles being formed from each pair of handle blankportions and opposite portions of said side edge areas, the articleportions formed from said side edge areas being divided along linesthrough said cut out areas.
 2. A method according to claim 1 with a webof sheet material having a continuous integral strip extending in thelongitudinal direction of said web and located on each side of saidslots, which includes the step of dividing each of the transversesections remaining between each sucessive cut out areas along the lengthof said sections into substantially two halves to respectively form apair of handles for each two spoons to be made, and respectivelypunching out from both strips the scooping portions of the spoonsrespectively pertaining to each pair of handles.